Hello Hello

We've decided to make our blog private. If you would like to receive an invite to our blog please send me an email at jaimienielsen@gmail.com I will leave the profile open for the next week and then only invited members will be able to view it. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We're on the island until tomorrow....I will do a Christmas post in the next couple of days. Lots of love, Jaimie.

Pointing and Clapping and Kissing

Here are a couple videos just because...she's cute.... we love her.... and we're proud of her!



Snow Days

Yay for snow! Snow is wonderful when you don't have to go anywhere. It does make me shudder just thinking about last year though. Driving to work in a vehicle that barely had any heat and being 7 months pregnant was stressful to say the least.

We were surprised last week when Luke went to take out the recycling and he found a certain someone outside with her arms full of gifts. Auntie Amanda had come to visit from Kamloops! It was so great to have her down and Violet just loves her. Amanda pretty much is Violet's personal shopper/stylist. All things cute come from Auntie Amanda. (Note cute moose jacket in pictures below) We love you Amanda....thanks for visiting!

JOY

Happiness and Cheer

Sleepy Sundays... and other random poop

Violet started sleeping through the night about three weeks ago. I knew it was just a matter of time, but it sure is nice to get that chunk of night sleep. During the day she has been consistently rocking three forty minute naps. They're not long, but they seem to do the trick and she's usually happy as a peach when she wakes up....so I guess I can't complain. Not that I'm not a little jealous of those who have babies who nap for 2 or 3 hours!! I can't imagine, their houses must be spotless :)

Violet has a very consistent pooping schedule. I feed her at about 6 a.m. and she goes back to sleep until between 8 and 9. She ALWAYS wakes up with a dirty diaper......except on Sundays. For some reason on Sundays....Violet decides to break the rules. On Sunday mornings she never has a dirty diaper.... which is frustrating because I know... I just KNOW, that as soon as I put that dress on her......

Violet also seems to have this innate understanding that Sundays are a day of rest. She always seems to go down for her naps without any fuss....and just for kicks, she seems to sleep a little longer than usual.....like an hour and a half more than usual.

So this morning we were up at 8. Showered and all ready by 9. Violet was still in her pajamas because I was waiting for poop... hoping for poop. Our church doesn't start until 11 so I thought we were gold. I put her down for a little rest at 9:45 and this was the scene at 10:45 am ....

So peaceful, so sleepy. I couldn't wake her, nor did the flash of the camera....so we decided once again to skip church and let her rest. She woke up at 11:30 and guess what...she was poopy. Just when you think you have it figured out.

In other news, Violet has been adding to her repertoire of nap dodging techniques. She has discovered how to pull down the bumpers in her crib, which enables her to toss her soother into the middle of her bedroom, and thus legitimizes her need to call out to us... in the hopes that we will retrieve her beloved pacifier. I got to hand it to you kid....it's cute...and it works...every time.

Violet had a play date with Charlotte earlier this month. There were a lot of pigtails....and Violet had a great time trying to hold / eat baby Charlotte's hand. It sure gave me a bit of perspective as to how big our little one is getting.

And here are two pictures from today....just because.
Hope you're enjoying your day of rest!

7 months (and 1 day)!

Happy girl! All ready to go to a wedding and party it up.

The concentrated pre-crawler. She is getting quite good at moving around the house. She likes to push herself backwards and uses her hands to spin around.

Yay, Violet finally has a new favourite song! Not that we don't love "On Top of Spaghetti", but we didn't really want her to spend the first years of her life singing about carbs! Her new favourite song is much more "spiritual." LOL

This is Violet's grumpy face....it makes me laugh every time.

Our little sickling.....cuddling with her blanket and watching a video

Our poor baby had her first cold this month. She's had a cough on and off for about a couple of weeks. She didn't have a fever and she really was quite happy most of the time so we thought it was just a minor cold, or perhaps related to teething. I took her into the doctors yesterday just to make sure. The doctor said she heard some unusual noises in her lungs and she was concerned that maybe Violet had pneumonia. She sent us in for a chest x-ray....which was traumatic....probably more so for us than for her. Thank goodness Luke was with me. Only one of us was allowed into the x-ray room and Luke (thank goodness) offered to take her. They put her on this bicycle seat thing and clamped these things around her chest with her arms straight in the air. I felt so helpless waiting outside listening to Violet cry and Luke trying to calm her down. The evil x-ray man didn't do it properly and after we had gotten her dressed we had to undress her and do the whole horrible thing again! Anyways, the doctor called and let us know that she does not have pneumonia and this should pass on its on own. So if you think of it please pray that this cold passes quickly and that she never, ever gets sick again. I know it was just a cold, and I realize there will be plenty of colds and other ailments in the future, but man oh man it's not fun to see your child in discomfort.

Fun with the Fullers

Mom and Dad Nielsen were in Calgary visiting Amy, Steve and the kids. We've really been wanting to go to Calgary to visit them, but it just hasn't worked out. Luke had the weekend off and we were able to find a seat sale so we spontaneously decided to make a surprise visit. I love surprises.....and I must give credit to my mother-in-law who should, in the words of my sister-in-law, receive an Academy Award for her efforts in keeping our surprise a surprise. I'm sorry you had to lie mom....but wasn't it worth it??!!

Violet waiting at the airport

Ready, Set, Fly

Violet did amazing on the plane. She was such a great little passenger, so curious, so courteous....she fell asleep in my arms (which is so not like her) and woke up just before landing. Me on the other hand....nervous wreck. Seriously, before baby....no big deal...dying in a plane crash seemed sort of like a romantic way to go....now I was listening intently on what to do if the cabin pressure dropped, where my nearest exit was, and I had to get a hold of my imagination as I envisioned about a billion scenarios of horrible things that could happen and how I would respond. I just kept thinking about how unnatural it is for humans to fly.....sheesh.

Mom and dad picked us up at the airport and then we went to surprise Amy at work. Priceless.

And then we went to the Fuller homestead to surprise our nephew Sidney and our niece Adrianna.



We spent some great quality time together doing all things Nielsen/Fuller. Reading, playing guitar, singing, telling jokes, eating yummy meals, and watching action/sci-fi movies that have been seen a billion times by everyone but me :)

For Halloween Violet was a ballerina. I'm trying not to live my dreams vicariously through her, but hello she's in the 90th percentile for her height, and she seems pretty graceful to me....I think it's just a no-brainer that she's going to be a prima ballerina.

On Saturday we went the Calgary Pee-Wee Football Championships. Our nephew's team crushed the other team winning like 40 to zero, and next weekend they're going to Edmonton for the Provincials....GO Hilltoppers!!!!! And um Luke...you may NOT live your football dreams vicariously through our children! Seriously there were like five injuries and one kid had to be taken away on a stretcher in an ambulance. Ballet = minor toe pain whereas Football = broken growth plates, legs, and spines?

Anyways, we had a wonderful weekend....so many great laughs...... we love family.

What a Pumpkin

"Thanksitting"

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

~Thomas Chisholm, 1923. Music: William Runyan

Violet all ready to head over to the Kiesz household for turkey dinner

We celebrated Thanksgiving on the island a couple weeks ago. Violet had some quality time with the grandparentals as well as the great-grandparentals. Awwwwww we miss you guys.

Here are a few more shots from our fall family pictures. I love that first picture....Violet was totally bored with the photoshoot.....what a diva. (LOL)

And today Violet sat all by herself for an extended amount of time....





Here's the aftermath...

6 Months

Yay, baby Violet is six months old tomorrow! She has grown and changed so much over these last six months. I feel so blessed to be her mommy and I just love watching her grow. She has turned into quite a little monkey. She does this head shaking thing that just cracks us up, and she has been deliberately doing it to get a reaction out of us...very cute. We're seeing her roll over a lot more this month and she seems to be trying to figure the whole crawling thing....scary. She can almost sit up alone for an extended amount of time, but she's still a bit sketchy, which sucks because our floor is so hard and a tumble usually means tears. We have yet to see a tooth, but we know she's teething! Drool...there's just so much drool.

One day old...

Six months old -photos courtesy of britespot photography

Violet tried rice cereal for the first time....adorable

I HEART FALL

You can wear toques... and put them on your baby!

Summer's Second Wind

Oops....I was meaning to publish this post a few weeks ago....oh well. Summer's second wind was beautiful, but I am happy that it is fall because...I LOVE fall! But this post isn't about fall...it's about summer.....so here's to the last 'lazy hazy crazy days of summer'....they sure were marvelous!

Hanging out at Kits beach

Meeting a goat in honour of her Auntie Mackenzie

These were some well fed bunnies!

Our little nap dodger....trying not to be sleepy...but she isn't fooling me

Ella...so cute

No one can make her laugh like her daddy can

5 months

Violet is five months old tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly this year seems to be going...could someone please tell me how to slow down time!!!! Our little girl has changed so much over these last few months, and it has been a blessing to watch her grow.  Here are some of Vi's milestones and tid-bits of info:

~she takes four, forty minute naps a day

~she goes to bed around 7:30 and then eats at 11 p.m. and between 3-5 am...she wakes up at about 8:30 am

~Violet weighs 14 lbs and 8 oz, she is 25 3/4 inches long and her head is 16 1/4 inch around

~she can roll over front to back and back to front, but we've only seen her do it a couple of times

~she is getting increasingly better at sitting up, but still requires some assistance

~she can reach out and grab a toy 

~she loves to play with her fingers, especially when she is falling asleep

~she puts her toes in her mouth and sometimes when her soother has fallen out I find her sucking on her big toe :)

~she has discovered that she can make different sounds....especially really loud ones, she seems to enjoy the sound of her shriek

~she has mastered the art of making raspberries

~her favourite song continues to be "On Top of Spaghetti"... no matter what is wrong if we start singing this song to her, she smiles

~her bangs are now hanging into her eyes

~she definitely seems to be teething...lots of drool....tears...and gnawing

~it's a bit of a challenge to make her laugh....she really makes you work for it....but when she does....oh man, it melts our hearts

Violet loves to be out and about! We took her to one of Luke's shows at Trinity Western and she just loved it. She had her eyes locked on him the whole time and was kicking her feet along to the music. For the final song Luke sang, "Little Spark" a lullaby that he had written for her and before the song was finished, Violet had fallen asleep on my shoulder. 

Thanks to all of our family and friend who have blessed us with visits, phone calls, gifts and prayers over these last five months. I do believe that "it takes a village to raise a child" and I'm so thankful for those who have chosen to walk this journey alongside of us. 

Twinkle Toes & Teething Woes

We broke out the jolly jumper for Violet to try....she seems to be a fan!

 

It's official....Violet is teething and she's not a happy camper. Here are a few things that have became staples in our home. 

Six Years

To celebrate our anniversary Luke and I decided we would take a family trip up to Whistler. We stayed at the beautiful Nita Lake Lodge, hung out in the village, ate a yummy dinner at Caramba, and stopped to see the beautiful Brandywine Falls. I'm so thankful for my husband, he has brought a lot of JOY into my life. We are rich in love, and I'm thankful....so thankful. 

Picnic lunch at Murrin Lake

Our Hotel....West Coast Style :)

Vi Vi chillin on the bed

Family Shot